Name: Elijah-Andre Guillaumes Age: 41 Gender: Male Occupation: Regular Priest Social Class: First Estate Financial situation: Fair, I make around 1,500 livres a year Appearance: Almost bald, some white hair, fairly big body figure Daily routine: I usually wake up and read a few pages from the Bible and I will go to the church to work. I spend the day there either performing baptisms, marriages or study the Bible. I return home for supper around 4 o'clock. Personality/Quirks/Unique Personality Traits: I like to help people out so when I see people that can't afford their dinner, I will invite them over to my house and enjoy dinner with my family. Past/individual-family history: My grandfather was the bishop of the church I currently work at and my father was a priest. We've been living in the town for many years so our lives are fairly good compared to village priests. Family: Due to my job and religion, I am not allowed to marry but I enjoy the life of being single. Freedom it is. Social relations with your own and other classes (people you deal with or know about in other classes, AND your opinions and feelings about them): As a priest, I help out with the church and directs the Church on sundays. On sundays, many nobles will come to church and listen to the words of God. The Lords and Ladies are nice and respectful to me, sometimes they will donate things to the church and help out with finance of the church. Generally I feel very comfortable around the Lords and Ladies since they are kind to me and their sons or daughters also make good friends with me. On the other hand, people I help out are not as fortunate as I am, the low income and the heavy tax they have to pay concerns me so I usually invite peasant children to my house for dinner. The way they stress about their taxes makes me feel very sorry for them and that is why I've decided to do some help though it is very rare among the clergymen. Religion: Catholic Education: I was educated for 10 years being taught about things from the Bible. Style of speaking in France: normal French Languages you speak: French, a little bit of English Main privileges and/or conflicts: As a Priest of my church, I am not required to pay taxes but I am required to collect the tax from other people.
Diary #1: Before the Storm August 30th, 1788 I woke up as my servant boy Harry nudged me at the side of my bed notifying me that it was time for breakfast. My coffee, ham omelet, cheese cake and bread sat patiently on the tray while I washed up and get dressed. “Sir, it looks like you’ll have quite a busy day,” Harry spoke as I sipped my coffee, “there are two baptisms and one marriage that need to be performed today.” Ah, praise the Lord, more baptisms today. It was one of my favorite things to do as a priest, to direct a baptism and grant the person a whole new life. In a hurry, I finished my cheese cake and took the chocolate with me to finish up on the way to the church. It was near the time to eat lunch as I finished my two baptisms in the morning. Being thankful for my performance, one of the two, Joshua invited me to share a luncheon meal together with him. Joshua Guatimee was the son of Lord Guatimee who had always been compassionate about church affairs. Joshua took a seat and sat across from me with an expression looking as if he had something to address. “Signor Guillaumes, I guess you’ve already heard of rumors about raising taxes on the church and nobles.” He started the way I read his mind. “My father told me our country is near bankruptcy, and there is a very high possibility for us to start paying taxes also. I blame it all on our indecicive king.” Indeed it was true that the first and second estates may start to pay taxes. But it had always seemed to me that it wasn’t fair for the third estates who had the least amount of income to support the finical spending of our country. It’s such a pity to see the peasants living off from rotten milk and cheese. Joshua however, gave me another look the way someone would look at an insane person when I told him how I felt. “It is very rare to see your side of humors,” Joshua commented. “Signor, I apologize for my rudeness but look at it this way, we are going to be taxed on, that means we have to give big parts of our income to the government. Isn’t there a possibility for us to become people like the third estate one day? It’s hard to imagine myself living like those people.” My thoughts began to twirl, Joshua had a good point. I have always been concerned about the taxes that the third estate had to pay, now would I really want to pay that much money? That question occupied my mind as we finished our luncheon. I’ve thought of the outcomes for paying taxes during my whole performance of the marriage. It still bothered me till I returned home from the church. I didn’t invite the twins Janey and VeRami over to dinner tonight. They were the twins that lived a few blocks away from mine and were insanely skinny that could be blown away by wind. Dinner was rather quiet without the two…
Diary #2: The Moderate Stage June 29th, 1789
Today was the day that I pick up the clothes from my mate Natalie Fromage’sshop for Janey and VeRami. Their new blouses are surprise gifts for their 12th birthday next week. I asked Harry to make sure that there were no appointments for me today during breakfast. I set off for the day as I took my chocolate with me to finish up as usual. Surprisingly, I was one of the early birds today at the shop. I greeted Natalie and she was off to fetch my blouses for the girls. As I looked around at the accessories displayed on the shelves, I overheard an interesting a conversation. It was between two people from the third-estates, I suppose. I listened carefully because I couldn’t see their faces. “Did you hear about the Tennis Court Oath? It happened just a few days ago at the tennis court near by,” it sounded like Natalie’s voice. Ha, Tennis Court Oath? If I happened to know who they were, I would be highly engaged in their conversation. But it’s always rude to cut into conversations. Natalie gave me the blouses as I gave her two livres. "Oh sir, have you heard of the tennis court oath?" Natalie asked, she looked as if she was highly concerned about this event. She said she could sense the new France coming together and really hopes this would change the way she lived in France now.
A View of the Tennis Court Oath
Speaking of the Tennis Court Oath, I was supposed to be there but I stayed up reading the Bible the other night so I missed out their meeting after the clergy were invited by the third estate. It turned out to be that I missed out a whole oath that symbolized our will to form a new government. However, prior to the Tennis Court Oath, I did attend the Estate General Meeting. My father was one of the first estate deputies but I did not remember him attending any meeting. With curiosity, I attended the meeting and was notified that the Estate General have not met since 1614. Nevertheless, the estates were gathered to vote and solve issues. The term “vote” meant that each estate had only one vote. Forget about the outcomes I’ve thought of before if I had to pay taxes. Inequity was not something God wanted to see when He created us. I felt furious when the King ignored this problem. In the mean time, us the clergymen were asked by the third-estate deputies to join them in a single “National Assembly.” I immediately agreed to contribute to this National Assembly while some others were unwilling to do so. But shame on me for not participating in the Tennis Court Oath. Now that the National Assembly had been the legal parliament of our country, France will now be a stable place for poor Janey and VeRami to grow up, God bless them.
Diary #3: The Reign of Terror October 29th, 1793
It had been a long time since I wrote my last diary entry. After the national assembly was formed, I thought it was the end for changes in France, but let me correct myself; it was only the beginning of it. Reforms of France began throughout Paris and they made new laws for the Church. Now all the priests and bishops must be elected just like the way public officials were. That was not a problem for me as I was very popular amongst the public.However, two of my friends who were priests of another Church were exiled because they refused to take that oath of loyalty to French nation and the law. They set foot to Austria with their families three years ago. At first we would write letters to each other, but I’ve lost contact with them. The separation with them was a pity but I should say they’ve made the decision for good. France had been a chaotic country for the past few years. With the outbreak of the Sans Culottes that overthrew the king, rebellion seemed to be a popular thing. I could recall that there was this emergency group called the Committee of Public Safety formed to “protect” the safety of French. Hilarious at it was France was not safe as the Law of Suspects was carried out. The word trust no longer existed among people. Many priests, nobles, aristocrats fell under suspicion and were arrested. Those who were arrested never came out alive. Most of them ended up losing their heads to the guillotine. Malevolent. My hatred for France and the guillotine reached to the maximum when I had to witness Janey and VeRami’s heads roll off from it. My poor girls lost their widowed mother soon after their 12th birthday and I played the role of their father since. I quit being a priest because the girls might be a sensitive subject. They were arrested as suspects a man ran to them and ask for a slice of bread as he was escaping from officers. My girls gave him bread when the officers saw him and ran toward them. They saw the three of them and thought they were a family so they captured the man and took away my girls also. I later discovered the man was the husband of a Paris shop keeper, Jodi Owl. The day of execution came and I saw Jodi Owl with her family there too. I squeezed through the crowd to get to them. She greeted me with tears pouring down from her face. Jodi also apologized on behalf of her husband for dragging the girls into this inhumane execution. I could not blame her; in fact it was no one’s fault. I blamed it on the brutal law. I gave her a warm hug as she sobbed heavily. I saw my girls lining up behind Jodi’s husband waiting for their turn to the guillotine. I closed my eye as the axe fell on Janey’s head. I could see VeRami crying silently, she must be so frightened then. My heart literally ached for minutes after VeRami’s head rolled off from the plank of wood.
RIP my girls
My biggest regret these years was not taking the girls with me and leave to Austria when my friends left. I’ve lost almost everything in my life already; even my faith for God is vague.
Name: Elijah-Andre Guillaumes
Age: 41
Gender: Male
Occupation: Regular Priest
Social Class: First Estate
Financial situation: Fair, I make around 1,500 livres a year
Appearance: Almost bald, some white hair, fairly big body figure
Daily routine: I usually wake up and read a few pages from the Bible and I will go to the church to work. I spend the day there either performing baptisms, marriages or study the Bible. I return home for supper around 4 o'clock.
Personality/Quirks/Unique Personality Traits: I like to help people out so when I see people that can't afford their dinner, I will invite them over to my house and enjoy dinner with my family.
Past/individual-family history: My grandfather was the bishop of the church I currently work at and my father was a priest. We've been living in the town for many years so our lives are fairly good compared to village priests.
Family: Due to my job and religion, I am not allowed to marry but I enjoy the life of being single. Freedom it is.
Social relations with your own and other classes (people you deal with or know about in other classes, AND your opinions and feelings about them): As a priest, I help out with the church and directs the Church on sundays. On sundays, many nobles will come to church and listen to the words of God. The Lords and Ladies are nice and respectful to me, sometimes they will donate things to the church and help out with finance of the church. Generally I feel very comfortable around the Lords and Ladies since they are kind to me and their sons or daughters also make good friends with me. On the other hand, people I help out are not as fortunate as I am, the low income and the heavy tax they have to pay concerns me so I usually invite peasant children to my house for dinner. The way they stress about their taxes makes me feel very sorry for them and that is why I've decided to do some help though it is very rare among the clergymen.
Religion: Catholic
Education: I was educated for 10 years being taught about things from the Bible.
Style of speaking in France: normal French
Languages you speak: French, a little bit of English
Main privileges and/or conflicts: As a Priest of my church, I am not required to pay taxes but I am required to collect the tax from other people.
Diary #1: Before the Storm August 30th, 1788
I woke up as my servant boy Harry nudged me at the side of my bed notifying me that it was time for breakfast. My coffee, ham omelet, cheese cake and bread sat patiently on the tray while I washed up and get dressed. “Sir, it looks like you’ll have quite a busy day,” Harry spoke as I sipped my coffee, “there are two baptisms and one marriage that need to be performed today.” Ah, praise the Lord, more baptisms today. It was one of my favorite things to do as a priest, to direct a baptism and grant the person a whole new life. In a hurry, I finished my cheese cake and took the chocolate with me to finish up on the way to the church.
It was near the time to eat lunch as I finished my two baptisms in the morning. Being thankful for my performance, one of the two, Joshua invited me to share a luncheon meal together with him. Joshua Guatimee was the son of Lord Guatimee who had always been compassionate about church affairs. Joshua took a seat and sat across from me with an expression looking as if he had something to address. “Signor Guillaumes, I guess you’ve already heard of rumors about raising taxes on the church and nobles.” He started the way I read his mind. “My father told me our country is near bankruptcy, and there is a very high possibility for us to start paying taxes also. I blame it all on our indecicive king.” Indeed it was true that the first and second estates may start to pay taxes. But it had always seemed to me that it wasn’t fair for the third estates who had the least amount of income to support the finical spending of our country. It’s such a pity to see the peasants living off from rotten milk and cheese.
Joshua however, gave me another look the way someone would look at an insane person when I told him how I felt. “It is very rare to see your side of humors,” Joshua commented. “Signor, I apologize for my rudeness but look at it this way, we are going to be taxed on, that means we have to give big parts of our income to the government. Isn’t there a possibility for us to become people like the third estate one day? It’s hard to imagine myself living like those people.” My thoughts began to twirl, Joshua had a good point. I have always been concerned about the taxes that the third estate had to pay, now would I really want to pay that much money? That question occupied my mind as we finished our luncheon.
I’ve thought of the outcomes for paying taxes during my whole performance of the marriage. It still bothered me till I returned home from the church. I didn’t invite the twins Janey and VeRami over to dinner tonight. They were the twins that lived a few blocks away from mine and were insanely skinny that could be blown away by wind. Dinner was rather quiet without the two…
Diary #2: The Moderate Stage June 29th, 1789
Today was the day that I pick up the clothes from my mate Natalie Fromage’sshop for Janey and VeRami. Their new blouses are surprise gifts for their 12th birthday next week. I asked Harry to make sure that there were no appointments for me today during breakfast. I set off for the day as I took my chocolate with me to finish up as usual.
Surprisingly, I was one of the early birds today at the shop. I greeted Natalie and she was off to fetch my blouses for the girls. As I looked around at the accessories displayed on the shelves, I overheard an interesting a conversation. It was between two people from the third-estates, I suppose. I listened carefully because I couldn’t see their faces. “Did you hear about the Tennis Court Oath? It happened just a few days ago at the tennis court near by,” it sounded like Natalie’s voice. Ha, Tennis Court Oath? If I happened to know who they were, I would be highly engaged in their conversation. But it’s always rude to cut into conversations. Natalie gave me the blouses as I gave her two livres. "Oh sir, have you heard of the tennis court oath?" Natalie asked, she looked as if she was highly concerned about this event. She said she could sense the new France coming together and really hopes this would change the way she lived in France now.
Speaking of the Tennis Court Oath, I was supposed to be there but I stayed up reading the Bible the other night so I missed out their meeting after the clergy were invited by the third estate. It turned out to be that I missed out a whole oath that symbolized our will to form a new government. However, prior to the Tennis Court Oath, I did attend the Estate General Meeting. My father was one of the first estate deputies but I did not remember him attending any meeting. With curiosity, I attended the meeting and was notified that the Estate General have not met since 1614.
Nevertheless, the estates were gathered to vote and solve issues. The term “vote” meant that each estate had only one vote. Forget about the outcomes I’ve thought of before if I had to pay taxes. Inequity was not something God wanted to see when He created us. I felt furious when the King ignored this problem. In the mean time, us the clergymen were asked by the third-estate deputies to join them in a single “National Assembly.” I immediately agreed to contribute to this National Assembly while some others were unwilling to do so. But shame on me for not participating in the Tennis Court Oath. Now that the National Assembly had been the legal parliament of our country, France will now be a stable place for poor Janey and VeRami to grow up, God bless them.
Diary #3: The Reign of Terror October 29th, 1793
It had been a long time since I wrote my last diary entry. After the national assembly was formed, I thought it was the end for changes in France, but let me correct myself; it was only the beginning of it.
Reforms of France began throughout Paris and they made new laws for the Church. Now all the priests and bishops must be elected just like the way public officials were. That was not a problem for me as I was very popular amongst the public. However, two of my friends who were priests of another Church were exiled because they refused to take that oath of loyalty to French nation and the law. They set foot to Austria with their families three years ago. At first we would write letters to each other, but I’ve lost contact with them.
The separation with them was a pity but I should say they’ve made the decision for good. France had been a chaotic country for the past few years. With the outbreak of the Sans Culottes that overthrew the king, rebellion seemed to be a popular thing. I could recall that there was this emergency group called the Committee of Public Safety formed to “protect” the safety of French. Hilarious at it was France was not safe as the Law of Suspects was carried out. The word trust no longer existed among people. Many priests, nobles, aristocrats fell under suspicion and were arrested. Those who were arrested never came out alive. Most of them ended up losing their heads to the guillotine. Malevolent.
My hatred for France and the guillotine reached to the maximum when I had to witness Janey and VeRami’s heads roll off from it. My poor girls lost their widowed mother soon after their 12th birthday and I played the role of their father since. I quit being a priest because the girls might be a sensitive subject. They were arrested as suspects a man ran to them and ask for a slice of bread as he was escaping from officers. My girls gave him bread when the officers saw him and ran toward them. They saw the three of them and thought they were a family so they captured the man and took away my girls also. I later discovered the man was the husband of a Paris shop keeper, Jodi Owl.
The day of execution came and I saw Jodi Owl with her family there too. I squeezed through the crowd to get to them. She greeted me with tears pouring down from her face. Jodi also apologized on behalf of her husband for dragging the girls into this inhumane execution. I could not blame her; in fact it was no one’s fault. I blamed it on the brutal law. I gave her a warm hug as she sobbed heavily. I saw my girls lining up behind Jodi’s husband waiting for their turn to the guillotine. I closed my eye as the axe fell on Janey’s head. I could see VeRami crying silently, she must be so frightened then. My heart literally ached for minutes after VeRami’s head rolled off from the plank of wood.
My biggest regret these years was not taking the girls with me and leave to Austria when my friends left. I’ve lost almost everything in my life already; even my faith for God is vague.